6 Ways to Cut Electricity Use at Home and Work

Save Money On Electricity

Using electricity efficiently is extremely crucial to save you a lot of money on monthly utility bills. It can also help to conserve earth's natural resources and reduce your carbon footprint. There are many ways you can do this and some are so obvious you are probably already doing them.

1. Change your thermostatCredit: Flicker Creative Commons

At Home

For a few bucks, and 20 minutes, you can install a programmable thermostat. If you can program your thermostat then you can have your system set to keep the room at certain temperatures when you are using the space and a different temperature when you are not. This simple aspect can save you a lot of money and energy in the long run[1]. I have placed a link to the one I use below the article.

At The Office

Make sure your thermostat at work is set to adjust to a higher temperature (or lower in the winter) an hour before the working day ends. This will have the system run less while the building is unoccupied. Program the system so that it turns on only a few minutes before people arrive. Moreover, seasonal settings like making sure the thermostat is set higher in the winter and lower in the summer to create efficient temperature in the office is highly recommended.

Your heating and cooling systems actually work less to maintain a temperature than having to constantly cool or heat from the extremes. Be sure that your away setting on the thermostat is no more than 5 degrees above or below your in use setting.[2]

This is what I have In My Home

2. Supplementary Heating and Cooling

Fans and space heaters are your best friend. They are cheaper to operate than running your entire HVAC system. At home or at work you can set your system a few degrees warmer or colder and make use of space heaters and fans.

If you are an employer, yes the space heaters do cause an increase in energy use verses having employees wear jackets indoors. However, you do have to remember that your employees are people and the more comfortable you make them the better they will produce for you. The use of space heaters and fans will allow employees to feel comfortable while maintaining a lower usage of the larger HVAC system.[3]

3. Are You Using It?

Just because you are not using something does not mean that it is not consuming electricity.

At Home

If there is something that has gone unused for a few days you should unplug it. All things plugged into the wall slowly pull energy even when they are turned off. This can be streamlined by using power strips.

At The Office

When it comes to office hardware, we often find printers that are not in use but still plugged in. Computer systems left standby for endless periods of time are a wast of energy. Annoying screen savers eat up a lot of electricity and you can very simply use the power settings to have the screen shut off when the computer is not in use.

If you regulate the hardware use in your office, you can definitely conserve a lot of electricity. All it takes is a few simple plug-in timers at a few bucks each to stop your fax machine, printers and computers from running up your electricity bill when people are not even at the office.

4. Upgrade Lighting

At Home

There is no need for use of incandescent bulbs. It is simple and affordable to change your lighting options. LED cord lights can be used to create high efficiency recess lighting options by setting the lights on shelves or by affixing it around the ceiling as if it were molding. You can use LED or Fluorescent bulbs in your existing fixtures to slash energy consumption by more than half.

That pesky outside light can easily be converted into a motion sensing light so that you can ensure outdoor safety at a significant energy savings.

At the Office

Fluorescent tubes are dead. Each fitting uses 200 Watts!

Replace each one with an LED spotlight fitting that only uses 30 Watts to produce the same amount of light. The LED lights also last longer than fluorescent tubes, saving on replacement costs; no more flickering tubes either.

Use LED lights in Hallways and bathrooms where lights burn all day long. At least your LED lights will only consume a fraction of the electricity that fluorescent tubes would do.

In an office with only 100 fluorescent fixtures this change alone will reduce your consumption from 20,00 watts to 3,000 watts.

New Outdoor Light

5. Use Natural Wind and Lighting

This is a very simple concept: Open Windows

Credit: Letting Go Of Control

Keep your windows open almost all day when it is hot and create a natural draft. Choose your blinds wisely so that you can shut out direct sunlight, but still have the room bright enough to remove the need for any electric lights at all.

Bask in the cool breeze and the sunlight that comes in from your window and rejuvenate yourself and your staff; natural light just makes for a happier workplace.

6. Generate your own electricity

In the beginning, the installations and fixtures might mean capital investment, but then you’ll have affordable, even free, energy available for decades from your own solar panels or wind generator. This would insulate your company from rising energy prices and if the you produce more than you consume the energy can be sent back into the grid resulting in some cases of actually generating an income. There are some relatively small wind and solar kits that would be a great starting point for anyone interested in generating their own electricity in the links below.

I also recommend for those of you who are not just out to save money but would also like to be environmentally friendly that you -

Buy Green Energy

Green electricity suppliers are now slowly reducing their rates and you’ll find the tariff almost equal to standard electricity tariffs in most places. Find out which green energy providers are available in your locality and ask them for quotes.